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Commitment to excellence? Not in Green Bay

The Green Bay Packers refuse to sign other team’s free agents and now they apparently refuse to sign their own. So much for draft and develop. Today the Packers let one of their most valuable defensive players walk by not using the franchise or transition tag on cornerback Sam Shields. Other teams are certainly not as stupid as the Packers so Shields will be long gone once free agency starts.

It is moves like this that explain why the Packers have fallen from Super Bowl champs to a .500 team in just three years. The Packers have $35 million to spend and won’t even use it to keep their own players, which they say is the core of their draft and develop philosophy.

The Packers raised ticket prices for the fifth year in a row even though the product on the field doesn’t merit it. It makes you wonder who is calling the shots at 1265 Lombardi Avenue and makes you really wish they had an owner like Robert Kraft who is committed to winning. The Packers appear committed to mediocrity.

The Packers have to decide if it’s about being OK or if it’s about winning Super Bowls. The cost of doing business is going to be higher in Green Bay. That’s just the way it is when you do business in the league’s smallest market.

Ted Thompson and Mike McCarthy are running a seemingly sinking ship and showing no signs of distress. It’s amazing. I hope they have a better plan than the one they have using the last three years, because that one ain’t working.

Without Shields I can see the Packers’ defense giving up 2011 numbers again. All this tough talk at the combine about how the defense is going to be better and they go and do this. All you can do is shake your head.